Former Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove Joins Joins Hopkins School of Public Health as Inaugural Senior Policy Scholar
The Honorable Ronnie Musgrove, former Governor of Mississippi, has joined the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as the inaugural Senior Policy Scholar in the Department of Health Policy and Management. Known as the “Education Governor,” Ronnie Musgrove championed the Adequate Education Act, which changed the face of public education in Mississippi by ensuring every public school in the state received adequate and equitable funding, to deliver on the promise of a quality education.
“Governor Musgrove is the ideal candidate to take on this role and craft an agenda that will resonate with our faculty, students, and policymakers,” said Ellen MacKenzie, PhD, the Fred and Julie Soper Professor & Chair of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of Health Policy and Management. “His long standing career in public service and access to our local, state and national leaders gives us an opportunity to contribute to the national discussion on the public health policy issues of our time, and offers our students an amazing opportunity to be part of the process.”
In his role as Senior Policy Scholar, Governor Musgrove will consult with students and Bloomberg faculty about the policy implications of their work; advise on outreach to people who can help implement programs or policies coming out of their research; recommend ways to better communicate the School’s research to policy makers on the state and national level; and act as a resource for students and faculty.
Born and raised in rural Mississippi, Governor Musgrove has made it his lifelong mission to be an advocate for economic growth, healthcare benefits, education, new job development and children’s health. In addition to his new role as Senior Policy Scholar, he is chair of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services, chair of the National governing Board’s NAEP 12th Grade Preparedness Commission, co-chair of the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee and chair of the Mississippi Center for Legal Services Advisory Group. He assumed his role at the Bloomberg School in November 2013. He is a graduate of Northwest Mississippi Junior College, the University of Mississippi, and the University of Mississippi School of Law.
Governor Musgrove and his wife, Dr. Melody Musgrove, who received her masters and doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi and who serves as Director of the Office of Special Education in the U.S. Department of Education, have four children and reside in Madison, MS.
Department of Health Policy and Management contact: Susan Murrow at 410-955-7624 or smurrow@jhsph.edu.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health media contact: Tim Parsons at 410-955-7619 or tmparson@jhsph.edu.